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The likelihood that the European Central Bank will cut interest rates this
week increased yesterday when unemployment in the eurozone surged to a fresh
high in March.

The number of Europeans without jobs jumped by 62,000 in March to 19.2
million, according to Eurostat, the region’s statistics office. The total
was 1.7 million higher than a year earlier and pushed the unemployment rate
up to 12.1 per cent.

The gloomy numbers raised expectations among economists that tomorrow the ECB
will cut rates from their record low of 0.75 per cent to 0.5 per cent, as
well as unleash further measures